Musk mounted a pressure campaign on House Republicans on Wednesday to vote against the bipartisan bill that Johnson intended to bring to the floor. On Thursday, 38 Republicans – most of them fiscal conservatives – voted against a stripped-down version that cut out add-ons to the spending plan but extended a suspension of the country’s debt limit.

The U.S. Constitution states that senators and representatives "shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States," meaning they will receive their salary even during a shutdown.